As soon as he said Takbīr, I heard him say, “The dog has killed or eaten me,” when the murderer stabbed him. A non-Arab infidel came carrying a double-edged knife and stabbed everyone he passed by on the right and left, stabbing thirteen people out of whom seven died. When one of the Muslims saw that, he threw a cloak on him. Realizing that he had been captured, the non-Arab infidel killed himself. ‘Umar took the hand of ‘Abdur-Raḥmān b. ‘Auf and let him lead the prayer.

Those who were standing by the side of ‘Umar saw what I saw, but the people who were in the other parts of the Mosque did not see anything, but they lost the voice of ‘Umar and they were saying, “Subḥān Allāh! Subḥān Allāh!” ‘Abdur-Raḥmān b. ‘Auf led the people a short prayer. When they finished the prayer, ‘Umar said, “O Ibn ‘Abbās! Find out who attacked me.” Ibn ‘Abbās kept on looking here and there for a short time and then came back and said, “The slave of Al-Mughīrah.” At that, ‘Umar said, “The craftsman?” Ibn ‘Abbās replied, “Yes.” ‘Umar said, “May Allah destroy him. I only treated him well. All praises are for Allāh who has not caused me to die at the hand of a man who claims to be a Muslim. No doubt, you and your father (Al-Abbās) used to love to have more non-Arab infidels in Al-Madīnah.” Al-Abbas had the greatest number of slaves. Ibn ‘Abbās said to ‘Umar. “If you wish, we will do it.” He meant, “If you wish we will kill them.” ‘Umar said, “You are mistaken (for you cannot kill them) after they have spoken your language, prayed towards your Qiblah, and performed Hajj like yours.”

Points to note

Some narrations mention that the one who threw the cloak over the assassin was a person named Hattān Al-Tamīmī Al-Yarbū’ī from the Muhājirūn.

A narration from Ibn Shihāb describes how ʿUmar bled heavily and fainted. He was carried to his house, where he remained unconscious for a while. When he awoke and saw the people around him, the first thing he said was, “Have the people prayed?” When he was told that they had, he said, “There is no place in Islām for those who leave the prayer.” He then performed ablution and prayed, with his wound bleeding heavily. This, coupled with the fact the first thing ʿUmar did was appoint an imām in his place, all goes to show the importance and status of the ṣalāh, as well as the nobleness of ʿUmar.

This narration also mentions that ʿUmar feared he had done some wrong to someone in the community, but when Ibn ‘Abbās informed him it was the unbeliever who had stabbed him, and when Ibn ‘Abbās saw everyone crying as if they had lost their own children, ʿUmar became relieved that this situation was not because of any injustice on his part. This shows the piety and taqwā of ʿUmar.